Small Business Realities

Small business and entrepreneurship continues to be a driving force behind our economy, but sometimes we fail to see the importance of the contributions small business and entrepreneurship bring. This roundup is meant to bring forth some of the realities of where small business stands today together with tips and techniques that will help small business move forward and continue to thrive and innovate no matter the challenges. Please share this with a small business owner you know.

Survival Skills

Support for the self-employed. We’ll be careful not to call it help. (They wouldn’t hear of it!) but here in the U.S. more than 40 million people, 31 percent of the work force, are self-employed and continue to be treated unfairly by a system built to favor huge workforces and huge corporate employers. But now, a push may be underway to change all that. Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Using job skills to fuel your part-time business. Your small business may be part-time or on the weekend or you may have started your small business with very few skills that would be considered marketable in the conventional workforce. Relax. You probably have more transferable skills in your job and everyday life than you realize. eMentorMarketing

Challenges & Opportunities

Housing slump poses problems for small business equity. The lousy housing market has hurt more than just the contractor who build homes. It’s hurting small business owners who own them too. Small business owners who once might have borrowed against their homes to reinvest in their businesses forcing them to either dip into savings or wait for another day. Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Tips for promoting your blog or Website. Chris Hamilton has a mountain of great information here stretching over numerous post but this one contains suggestion #13 which is to use an e-mail signature or business card to promote your Web presence. It’s important to promote your Website in the real world too and not just online. Sales Tip A Day

Better Business Tips

Saving on your small business car rental. When you need to rent a car for business reasons consider five points that are guaranteed to keep your costs down. Though you may be able to deduct rental as a business expense, saving money on your business will always be a benefit in the end. National Federation of Independent Business

Simple tips to generate more sales online. With an increasing number of small businesses moving to the Internet to sell their products and services, it’s a good idea what makes people buy things when they visit your business page. We call this conversion and if you aren’t converting visitors to your site into customers for your products and services, it’s time you figured out how. Marcana

Managing Day To Day

Subletting for additional revenue. Every little bit helps these days. If you have extra office space, need some extra cash flow your small business and would like to help another small business out in the process, subletting may indeed be an option for you. But first consider some important factors in the decision. National Federation of Independent Business

Taking care of your investment. You may not think of it this way sometimes, but your small business’s greatest asset is you. This means that taking care of yourself is an investment in your small business. Very businesses can function without someone at the helm. Make sure yours doesn’t have to. Tweak Your Biz

Marketing Moves

How to market to customers. You success as a small business owner comes back this. Can you create a product or service people want and can you market it in a way that will leave your customers wanting more. This may be the toughest part of small business because without it you have no business at all. Copyblogger

Marketing and selling B2B. If you sell to other businesses, relationship building should be a major consideration. You want customers or clients who will enjoy the experience of buying from or working with you so much they will return again and again. But how do you get the process started? Channelship

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Founded in 2003, Small Business Trends is an award-winning online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them. It is one of the most popular independent small business publications on the web.

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